Distance
by YuuKit
Summary: When Hinata, Ino, Sakura and Temari are caught up in a mysterious twist of fate, how will they cope? After all, they've never even heard of 'Shinigami' and the 'Espada' before! Bleach x Naruto. Parings decided by readers.


Hey, guys!

(Hit with multiple objects because of long absence)

Okay, okay, jeez! I get the point, you're _**angry**_ with me, alright? I've been gone a really long time and haven't updated for… A **long** time. I have a reason for this, and a very good one it is.

**I'm planning on rewriting this story.**

That's right! I'm gonna delete all the other chapters and start from the very beginning. The story's mostly the same, and I'm going to refresh the parings bin so you guys can have a clean start on who's going to be with who. Plus, I'm going to cut a few characters out of the story. Sadly, we're saying goodbye to TenTen as a main character, as well. I'll miss her as I'm sure you will too.

Well, I know that you guys probably don't want to wait for me to upload the real story, so… I'm putting chapter one in here, with this just as a reminder for what's going on.

Are you guys ready?

Then let's go!

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**Disclaimer:** You think I'd be on here if I owned them? NOOOOO!

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D I S T A N C E

**Chapter One**

_Falling into Oblivion_

The summer's boiling sun beat down on the Hidden Leaf Village, also known as Konoha. Sweaty ninjas and random villagers walked the baking streets like zombies, ready to eat brains. Of course, they weren't really.

In the Hokage's beautiful little building, Tsunade stretched her tired and aching muscles and leaned back against her chair. It was a beautiful day, but she was certainly drowned in sorrow. She needed some free leaf ninja to go on a little job for her. Heaving a huge sigh, she sat up again.

"Shizune!" The woman called, slamming her fist upon the desk in front of her. "Go and send the word out for Sakura to round up some girls! I need a mission done here." She paused, and checked her bottle. Dry as a bone. "And while you're at it, bring me some Sake!"

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Hinata Hyuuga was currently strutting down the street as if she wasn't affected by the sudden heat wave at all. Her long dark hair was pulled into a ponytail at the moment, and she was browsing through random articles of clothing as she was practically trampled by a pink haired maniac. Oh, wait, that was just Sakura.

"Hinata-chan!" Sakura shouted, making the heiress flinch. She did **not **like loud noises. "Tsunade sent me to find some people for a mission. You up for it?"

Hinata pondered for a few minutes. What was she doing today? She had already done training, and she was planning to ask for a mission anyway… "How long shall w-we be gone?" The young woman questioned politely.

"About three days, maybe. It depends." Sakura nodded, thinking that would be the correct amount. Then she began to explain her assignment, "We're going to be looking for some really rare herbs. They're very important, and they grow almost a day's walk away. But we have to search for them, since they look a lot like grass..."

After realizing she just revealed everything in the mission to Hinata, Sakura became beet red. "Oh, well, now - now that you know about it, you _have_ to come!" Sakura forced her embarrassment out of the way and placed her hands on her hips. After a few giggles, Hinata spoke again with a light tone.

"I was going to c-come anyway. I've wanted to go for a while." With a warm smile, she questioned, "Who else is going?"

Sakura's enflamed face quickly extinguished, though her ears were still a bright red. "I've gotten Ino and Temari to come along as well." The rosette told her, a smile gracing her lips. "That makes you the last person needed for our squad!" Hinata's mouth formed an 'O'.

"Does that me we leave now?" She asked, blinking her pearl orbs at Sakura who blinked in return.

"Of course!" The bubblegum haired teen shouted, locking her lightly tanned arm around Hinata's ivory one. She pulled her friend along the road, and some people even stopped to watch, amused. Even Naruto, who was usually too engulfed in his ramen to pay attention, peeked out of the Noodle Shop to watch what would soon be known as 'The Hyuuga Heir being dragged to her doom'.

The Hyuuga born girl's face lit up like fire, and she could feel her face burn. She _**absolutely hated**_ extra attention. When she was able to spot Naruto among the people watching, the only thing that ran through her mind was that this was _totally and absolutely not necessary for Sakura to do_!

'_Oh no,_' Hinata thought, her head beginning to spin, '_I'm __**not**__ going to pass out!_'

And the truth was, she didn't. She was able to stand being dragged down the dirt street by her friend. Her psycho friend, that is.

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Tsunade studied the group in front of her with approval. The four would work quite well together. "Alright, girls. Sakura filled you in on your mission?"

"Yup!" Ino chirped, bobbing her head up and down. "All filled in, and the three beauties plus Sakura are ready to go!"

"HEY!" Sakura's eyebrow twitched, suddenly regretting asking Ino to come. Oh, well. She couldn't do anything about that now. "Just… You… Be quiet, Ino!"

Temari groaned and placed her head in her left palm. Hinata looked oddly intrigued by the conversation going on.

Tsunade closed her eyes and sighed in annoyance. Maybe this group wasn't the best idea after all.

--

Awhile later, Temari rubbed her bare arms as they ran through the forest shade. "You know, I've never noticed how cold it got when we move from the hot sun to the shade…"

Hinata smiled, but didn't turn her head to look at Temari. "Yes, there's quite the difference, isn't there?" She replied, inhaling the cool scent of the treetops. The heiress felt much more at ease with her friends then she did with other people, so she didn't stutter as much around them.

Ino, who was beside Temari, turned to them. "So, what does this thing look like again?" She asked, the air pushing her blonde bang aside. "I know it's like grass, but, like, what features does it have that are _different_?"

Sakura came up on the other side of Hinata and replied, rolling her eyes at the blonde, "First of all, since I'm the one that got the mission, you should ask _me_." Sakura pointed to herself, then went on. "It's like grass, same colour, same shape, except that it has little barbs on it that feel like silk when they touch your skin. When the plant feels threatened, these turn into razor sharp needles."

"Ohh, interesting." Temari complimented, staring ahead and twisting as they avoided a tree trunk.

Sakura laughed when they all gather back together again. "Sure it is. Ahh, here we are!" She exclaimed, jumping to the ground.

Out of the thick tree trunks, a meadow full of grass and neon coloured flowers wove in the warm breeze. The setting sun sprayed the clouds a pinkish red orange colour, and in the distance the mountains casted shadows. The forest surrounded the area, but not a single tree stood out in the middle of the valley. It was a bit strange, Hinata had decided.

"Well," Ino started, walking out to the meadow. "Since it's sundown, we should camp and search tomorrow, right?" She turned and looked at the others, seeing if they had any objections. They didn't.

So, they started to set up camp. Hinata was sharing a tent with Ino, and Sakura was with Temari ('Why am I with her?' Temari had grumbled). After she had placed their tent up, Ino gathered some branches and began to make a fire.

"Hey, Hinata, do you have any matches?" Ino called over her shoulders, looking through her pockets. They were completely devoid of any fire making instruments. The shy indigo locked girl looked over and shuffled through her own pockets. Soon, her fingers clamped down on a small familiar shape, and she drew out a small packet of matches. She threw them to Ino, who caught it in turn, and began to light the fire.

Temari came strolling over, Sakura at her heels, and they sat on the hard ground together. The sun had gone down quite a while ago, and they were really starting to feel the night's chill. Hinata's gaze swept over the camp and the meadow when she noticed something rather bizarre. "G-guys, do you see that?"

Everyone's head turned to follow Hinata's pale finger - which she used to point out the extraordinary sight - and their eyes landed on something quite strange indeed. A single black butterfly was flying towards them.

It was outlined with a silvery essence, which seemed to pulse and whirl. It was probably as small as a child's hand, which would be about three inches in diameter. It was really pitch black, but it seemed to shine with the colours of the rainbow when the fire light caught on it.

The butterfly lazily tottered into their camp, fluttering about the fire, before circling Sakura's head, whose green-eyed eyes followed with a drowsy interest. They suddenly all felt very sleepy, like someone had thrown sleeping powder on them. Actually, it was more of a weak laziness than anything, for they could still keep their eyes open and head on straight.

Suddenly, the butterfly dropped at an increasingly fast speed towards the ground. As soon as it touched, the rock beneath them gave out, as if it couldn't hold the small weight the butterfly had. Ino screamed and tried to grab the ledge, but her now weak arms failed her. Temari had her fan and opened it under herself, trying to catch the turbulence to save them all, but the rushing wind from falling ripped holes into her fan. Ino latched onto it, anyway. Somewhere, in the darkness, Sakura cried and tears flew up to the sky. In the end, the black vortex swallowed them whole.

But before it did, Hinata couldn't help but notice that her clothes were covering different places, and her body felt as if it was being weighed down by a large metal weapon.

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Well? I hope you guys liked it! I mean... You BETTER like it!


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